South Korea saw its foreign population shrink by 1 percent last year from the previous year, marking a decline for the second year in a row, the Interior Ministry said.

According to a report by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the number of foreign residents stood at 2.13 million as of Nov. 1, 2021, compared to 2.14 million the same day a year earlier. The number includes foreign nationals residing in the country for more than 90 days, and naturalized Koreans and their children.

It marks the second year in a row the country has reported a fall in its foreign population since relevant statistics were first compiled in 2006.

Of them, the population of foreign workers without Korean nationality had decreased by 13.2 percent on-year as of November last year, the report showed. (Yonhap)